Mediagazer: Report for America's co-founders explain decision to send journalists to Gannett and McClatchy outlets, saying doing so better serves readers and communities (Dan Kennedy/Media Nation)

10:30 AM ET, May 2, 2020

Top News:

LA Times Guild accepts 20% cut in pay and hours for its members for 12 weeks starting May 10, saving the paper $2M+; the guild represents nearly 440 journalists — Los Angeles Times' newsroom guild agreed Friday to accept a 20% reduction in pay and hours for its members amid a devastating decline …

Discussion: L.A. Times Guild, Variety, @mattdpearce, @megjameslat, @jessicamartinez, @mattdpearce, @thebenbergman, @samaugustdean, @sarahljaffe, @sarahparvini, @bermudezwrites, @mgafni, @felixsalmon, @stevedaniels27, @haileybranson and @economistmeg

Aaron Freedman / American Prospect:

Five years ago, unions barely existed in digital media, and now 35 digital media brands are unionized; organizing continues amid the pandemic — Five years ago, unions barely existed in digital media. Today, they may save the industry from the worst of the COVID-19 depression—and provide a model to other working professionals.

Discussion: @michaelsocolow, @ddayen, @rebekahlsanders, @hearstunion, @bfnewsunion, @jeffyoung, @freedaaron, @cb1rd, @caitmunro, @hearstunion, @ddayen, @saraqdavid, @jeffyoung, @dylanmatt, @yourmandevine and @kerrymflynn

Alayna Treene / Axios:

Trump's new press secretary Kayleigh McEnany held the first official White House press briefing since March 11, 2019, and claims “I will never lie to you” — President Trump's new press secretary Kayleigh McEnany held her first White House briefing on Friday, the first official press briefing since March 11, 2019.

Ben Smith / New York Times:

News Corp says David Rhodes, a former Fox News exec and once CBS News president, has been advising News Corp's UK operation, speculating a return to Fox News — David Rhodes, a news executive who has held leadership roles at CBS News and Bloomberg, has been advising the media empire's British operation.

Discussion: @benyt, @edmundlee, @oliverdarcy, @bristei, @jeffjarvis, @davidfolkenflik, Variety and Financial Times

Seb Joseph / Digiday:

Amazon's ad business grew 44% YoY in Q1 to $3.91B, faster than Google and Facebook, but the typical advertiser's spend/day was halved at end of March vs January — The coronavirus lockdowns have helped Amazon swallow more ad dollars. That's likely to be a long-term gain for the retailer-cum-ad-business.

Discussion: Adweek, Vox, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, AdExchanger and Protocol, more at Techmeme »

Dan Kennedy / Media Nation:

Report for America's co-founders explain decision to send journalists to Gannett and McClatchy outlets, saying doing so better serves readers and communities — How much support do newspapers owned by cost-cutting corporate chains deserve? It's a dilemma.

Bobbie Johnson / MIT Technology Review:

Pandemic conspiracy theories are being spread using Wayback Machine links of content already discredited by fact-checkers and even deleted — Pandemic conspiracy theorists are using the Wayback Machine to promote “zombie content” that evades moderators and fact-checkers.

Discussion: @bobbie, @bobbie, @bobbie and @bobbie

Reuters:

Sources: NBCUniversal has reportedly started discussing cost-cutting measures, including significant layoffs across its media and entertainment properties — (Reuters) - Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O) owned NBCUniversal is evaluating a significant reduction of staff across its portfolio of media …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Seeking Alpha, @spwells, @ashkan, @lilliannnn, The Hill, @owillis and Reuters

Mark Di Stefano / @markdistef:

Financial Times media and technology correspondent Mark Di Stefano, who had been suspended for accessing confidential Zoom calls at rival publications, resigns — Hi, letting everyone know today was my last day at the FT. This afternoon I offered my resignation. Thank you everyone who has given support. I'm now going to take some time away and log off x

Meg James / Los Angeles Times:

Charlie Plowman, owner of Outlook Newspapers, buys the assets of three recently shut down papers from the California Times; 14 laid off staff won't be rehired — Charlie Plowman, owner of Outlook Newspapers in La Cañada Flintridge, has acquired the assets of three recently shuttered newspapers …

Discussion: @acrostical, @niemanlab, @myglendale, @sammy_roth, @megjameslat and @burbankca

ABC:

Judge orders Google to pay AU$40K in a defamation case, calls Google a publisher, saying it's designed by humans who can remove objectionable content — Google has been ordered to pay $40,000 in damages to a Melbourne lawyer after a Supreme Court of Victoria ruling found the internet giant was a publisher, and had defamed the man.

Discussion: @holden, @jbenton, @jbenton, @joshbbornstein, Beyond Search and Reclaim The Net

KC Ifeanyi / Fast Company:

Pandora founder Tim Westergren launches Sessions, a free live-streaming platform for artists where audiences can leave tips, in beta in 200+ countries — Disillusioned after leaving Pandora, Tim Westergren set out to create a better kind of streaming platform. Can he save struggling artists while redeeming himself?

Discussion: @pennyfractions and CelebrityAccess, more at Techmeme »

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More News:

Jim Roberts / @nycjim:
Cheddar's editor-in-chief Jim Roberts is stepping down

Discussion: @alykeves, @bakermachado and @nycjim

Emilie Lutostanski / Local Media Association:
Inasmuch Foundation and Local Media Association to launch the Oklahoma Media Center, a collaboration among local outlets with an initial focus on COVID-19

Discussion: @newsbyschmidt, @jimbrady and Center for Cooperative Media

William Turvill / Press Gazette:
SimilarWeb figures indicate the BBC was the biggest news site in the first half of April with ~40M average daily visits, up from 33.8M at the same time in 2019

Discussion: @marklittlenews

Variety:
Poll of US adults finds 40% of those who go to concerts, movies sports events, and theme parks would go again before a vaccine was available, and 40% wouldn't

Discussion: @gracerandolph

Earlier Picks:

Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:
New Tow Center report on digital security in journalism finds many news outlets fail to provide the training, resources, or encouragement to protect journalists

Discussion: @niemanlab, @dartcenter, @vivian, @cjr and @freedomofpress

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
Pence's staff threatens to punish a VOA reporter who tweeted that Pence's office told journalists to wear masks on a clinic visit, a rule Pence didn't follow

Ben Smith / New York Times:
CNN, MSNBC, and others so far failed to book Biden accuser Tara Reade, while she turned down offers from Hannity; source: Reade is in talks with Chris Wallace

Sara Fischer / Axios:
The Hollywood Reporter names AP's Nekesa Mumbi Moody editorial director, replacing Matthew Belloni, who quit over reported disputes with owners on news coverage

Discussion: Poynter, @rebel19, @theinsneider, @sarafischer, @sarafischer, Hollywood Reporter, New York Times, The Wrap, The Daily Beast, Talking Biz News, Deadline and Variety

From Techmeme:

Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Hacking group GhostR claims it stole 5.3M records from World-Check screening database, used for KYC checks for sanctions and financial crime links, in March

Wall Street Journal:
Apple removes WhatsApp, Threads, Signal, and Telegram from its App Store in China, after orders from the country's regulators citing national security concerns

Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Telegram partners with Tether to let the messaging app's ~900M users send USDT to each other through The Open Network blockchain

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